Recent NK Defectors Confirm Grim Food Situation

A waitress distributes beer during an official reception in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on April 2.

A new survey provides more evidence that food shortages have gotten worse in North Korea. The poll of 500 defectors from North Korea, of whom about 60% left the country in 2010 or this year, showed that over 90% said the food situation was very serious or comparatively serious, with the respondents reporting a progressively deteriorating situation since 2004.

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